Tuesday, 17 April 2012

Stila Acai Crush and Yumberry Crush Lip & Cheek Stains

As much as I love Stila, like any other brand, it has products that missed the mark for me. Their Lip & Cheek Stains in Acai Crush and Yumberry Crush (US$24/£16) looked promising, based on swatches online but after several attempts, I've pretty much given up on making them work for me. The slim brush applicator dispenses the tints through a dial-click mechanism, similar to Stila's lip glazes. It's better to go slow so as to avoid dispensing too much product. The disadvantage of this type of packaging is that the amount of product is always horribly paltry. These tints stand at just 2.5ml/0.08oz, which is measly compared to Becca Beach Tints (7ml) and Soap & Glory Cheekmate (11ml) which come in squeeze tubes that are much easier to control. Acai is a very pigmented deep fuschia pink while Yumberry is a pale candy pink. My experience with these two shades was frustrating as Yumberry was so sheer that it failed to add any colour to my lips or cheeks while Acai was so intense that it was difficult to achieve an even and precise application. Both stains left my lips feeling parched after they dried down, so layering a lipgloss or lip balm on top was necessary. The pic above shows the two stains freshly dispensed while the pic below was taken after blotting off the excess lightly with tissue. The pic below was taken after washing my hand with soap. Acai leaves a more indelible stain on the skin. It stained my fingertip so heavily that it took a few washes to remove all traces of it completely. Acai also wears off unevenly on the lips, resulting in unattractive pink spots on the lips. The Stila Lip & Cheek Stains just take too much effort to make them look good, and do not seem to warrant the price tag. Both Becca and Soap & Glory make much better cheek tints while Stila itself offers more user-friendly options for both the cheeks and lips.